


those crazy saturday nights (would be nothing without you)

by Cami740



Category: Fifth Harmony (Band)
Genre: F/F, i once got stuck on a diner after midnight, i wish i knew how to be lowkey, yknow what i did thaTS RIGHT I DECIDED TO WRITE A FIC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-26
Updated: 2016-10-26
Packaged: 2018-08-27 02:14:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8384056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cami740/pseuds/Cami740
Summary: lauren doesn't know what she expected when she went out on her first date with keana, but it certainly wasn't to get stood up. another thing she didn't expect? sharing an uber with a girl named camila and going out with her instead.or: lauren is broke and decides to try out uberpool, camila is lowkey wild and into midnight adventures and their first date is really unexpected, but it's not like they're complaining.





	

Lauren huffs and swallows the lump on her throat after she checks the time. Keana is an hour late and hasn’t texted or called her, hasn’t even answered the two texts Lauren sent her half an hour ago.

It seems pretty official to her now that she got stood up, but Lauren tries not to cry at that. The tears she feels pricking at the corners of her eyes are just angry tears for having had her pride hurt, nothing else. Nothing close to hurt, not in the slightest.

(If she keeps thinking like that, maybe Lauren will convince herself of it.)

She coughs and clears her throat when one of the waitresses comes to her table and asks her if she’d like to have anything else. Lauren had only ordered a latte a while after she arrived, when she started doubting if Keana would come at all.

Well, now she knows.

Lauren thanks the waitress and sighs, giving her the money for her latte. Then, the raven haired girl gets up and walks to the exit, a little impressed that the coffee shop is still open at eleven PM. Then again, that’s why Keana suggested it in the first place; she likes to go on dates at night, while Lauren likes to go to coffee shops. Well, that and the fact that Keana isn’t out to anyone but her friends, another reason for Lauren to agree to go somewhere far from campus.

Lauren doesn’t think Keana cares that much about the time or people’s opinions now, though. She doesn’t understand how someone who has been her friend for a long time can just go AWOL on her without as much as a text. And that’s when Lauren starts to worry. Maybe something happened?

Lauren mind races as she grabs her phone from her back pocket to text Keana’s roommate and ask her if she knows anything. She’s opening her texting app when her notifications flash on the screen, showing her that she had a text from Keana herself.

**K-bae (11:02 PM): sorry laur i got hung up w/ smth lol raincheck?**

Seriously? After an hour of waiting, this is what she gets? Lauren feels her throat closing again, but this time her tears really are out of frustration. She has known Keana for a year, which is the time they’ve been in college, and she’s crushed on her for a while now, but she hadn’t had the guts to ask her out until a couple of weeks ago.

But now? Now Lauren is just _pissed_. She’s also broke, but it’s dangerous at night, so she took an Uber to get there, since she doesn’t own a car. Now she would have to take another one to go back to campus, all that money wasted for fucking nothing.

So Lauren just huffs again and wipes at the tears that escaped her eyes. Then, instead of answering, Lauren opens her Uber app. Her fingers hover above the option she usually chooses as she debates whether she should get an UberPool. It’s not as comfortable or safe, she supposes, but it’s cheaper… Maybe it was time for Lauren to try it out.

After all, didn’t Lucy warn her about Keana when Lauren had first befriended her? Hasn’t Alexa always said Keana isn’t a nice person? Hell, even Ally has talked shit about her one time or another. All of Lauren’s friends had warned her about Keana, but she didn’t listen. Keana had shown herself to be a shitty person multiple times, like when she pretended not to be her friend in front of her old crush, then cried about him on Lauren’s shoulder. Or when she invited Lauren for a party and ditched her as soon as they got there. Keana had mistreated her time and time again, yet Lauren continued to be her friend and didn’t care about what anyone said.

(Blinded by her crush, she guesses.)

Yeah, Lauren wouldn’t give her any more of her time, wouldn’t spend any more money on her. It’s about time that Lauren lets go and maybe being stood up was just what she needed.

Lauren feels herself getting choked up again, feels the familiar burning in her eyes and decides it right then: she calls for an UberPool. Then she waits and a few minutes later she unlocks her phone again, wondering where the hell was her car. The app says it’s going to pick another person up, and Lauren starts to question her decision, fidgeting under a light post in front of the coffee shop.

When a black car pulls up to her side of the curb and the driver rolls down the windows asking for Lauren Jaguar, the green eyed girl doesn’t even care that he got her name wrong and jumps in on the backseat. She greets him, but is soon cut off by two things. The first one is the buzzing of her phone. The second is a loud, annoyed voice.

“Don’t worry, Mani, I’m not accepting her fucking apologies this time.”

Lauren looks to her left, being met with a girl that seems about her age, but a little smaller and tanner, talking passionately on her phone. The girl looks at her then, sending her an apologetic smile, and Lauren just waves her off with her own smile, too transfixed by the stranger’s beautiful face to say anything.

The girl knits her eyebrows together a second later and Lauren is about to ask her what’s wrong when she turns her head a little, revealing the phone once again.

Lauren continues to stare at the girl as she listen to this “Mani” on the other end of the line, focused and distressed. The green eyed girl finds it extremely cute how she puts her phone over her brown hair after she runs a hand through it, biting her lip with a sigh.

“I know, Mani- Wha- Dinah? Put Mani back on the phone! No, I don’t care about how long we’ve been together, she clearly doesn’t give a shit and honestly neither do I. Not anymore, especially not now. This isn’t a relationship anymore, Dinah.” The girl says, glancing at Lauren’s direction.

Lauren whips her head back when she is caught staring at her, deciding that she should go back to minding her own business. She feels her phone vibrating again and unlocks it, sighing as she opens the texting app.

**K-bae (11:19 pm): hey laur??**

**K-bae (11:22 pm): can u pls reply??**

Lauren’s face contorts in a scowl as she feels anger bubbling up inside of her again and the rest of the car is blocked from her mind. How dare Keana demand that she reply quickly when she ignored her for more than an hour earlier today? She can’t help typing a reply furiously, even if the last thing she wants to do is comply.

**Lauren (11:23 pm): are you serious rn?? you dont show up and ignore my texts for how long you want but i cant take 20 mins to reply? fuck you**

Lauren’s breathing is heavy and it’s pretty clear to her that she’s getting worked up, all the frustration, hurt and anger coming back with the inconsiderate text she got.

Lauren takes a second to think that it’s not a good idea to pick up her phone when she sees Keana calling her. She takes another one to answer and bring the phone to her ear.

(Lauren was never one to listen to her own advice anyway.)

Keana’s voice is heard almost immediately. “Lauren, I-”

“What do you want, Keana?” Lauren cuts her off harshly.

“You gotta let me explain, I didn’t even take that long to reply, it’s just-” The girl tries again, sounding more frantic this time.

“Really? You made me come all the way here then stood me up, didn’t answer my texts, didn’t call, nothing.” Lauren spits, feeling herself get choked up again and rolling her eyes.

This is _so_ typically Lauren. She just can’t have one single argument without crying or at least wanting to cry. It isn’t something she does to get whoever she’s arguing with to have sympathy, it just happens, even when she absolutely doesn’t want it to. Like right now.

“Oh come on, I was really busy! It was one time!” Keana argues back, sounding more sure now, which only fuels Lauren’s anger.

The green eyed girl scoffs. “Please, it’s not the first time you’ve done something like this. I was just too blind to see it. I- I should’ve…” Lauren takes a moment to breathe, the lump in her throat making her voice tremble. She swallows it to continue, but Keana beats her to it.

“Really, Laur? Crying doesn’t make you right you know.” The girls says and now Lauren can definitely feel the tears flooding her eyes and escaping through the corners, leaving streaks down her face.

“Fuck you. I should’ve listened to my friends when they warned me about you.” Lauren breathes out shakily yet harshly.

“Fine, if that’s how you want to be. You know they don’t like me for no reason, but if you’re gonna let them poison your mind then be it.” She bites back and Lauren takes a moment to breathe deeply and regain her composure.

“They didn’t poison my mind, I’ve been noticing how shitty a friend you are for a while now. Today’s just the breaking point.” Lauren says, more firmly now. “And honestly, I think I was willing to forgive you for making me wait one fucking hour without as much as a text, but how you just texted me afterwards demanding me to reply and how you just handled this phone call… I’m done, Keana, I’m tired of your shit.”

“Fine.” Keana huffs before hanging up.

Lauren almost throws the phone away, only there’s not enough room to do so in the backseat of the car she’s in, so she just groans and lets it fall on her lap. She runs a hand through her hair and then uses her fingers to wipe at her tears, which are still annoyingly trying to come out of her eyes.

“Are you okay?” A voice asks from her left, making Lauren turn quickly in its direction.

 _Shit_. She’d completely forgotten about the girl who was with her in the heat of the moment. Lauren tries to smile, tries to make herself look presentable by fixing her hair while she nods at the girl, but she seems to not believe her, if the look she’s giving Lauren is any indication.

“Wer-,” a cough, “weren’t you on the phone?” Lauren asks, trying to deflate.

“Yeah but I hung up when you started yelling.” The girl replies simply, shrugging.

Lauren is immediately filled with guilt and she looks down in shame.

“I’m sorry.” She mumbles.

“Oh!” The smaller girl exclaims, making Lauren look up. Her eyes are wide. “I didn’t mean it like _that_ , I’m sorry, that was terribly rude.” She shakes her head. “What I meant was, I hung up because you seemed like you could use some help and I wanted to be free for when you hung up. I’m terribly messy with words sometimes, sorry.” The girl lets out a chuckle and Lauren feels herself smiling involuntarily. “I’m Camila, by the way.”

“Lauren. Jauregui. Uh, Lauren Jauregui.” Lauren stumbles over her own words, feeling her cheeks warm up in embarrassment. She wipes at them some more, getting out any vestige of tears, before looking up at a smirking Camila.

“If you were going for the James Bond thing, I think the appropriate way would be ‘Jauregui, Lauren Jauregui’.”

Camila giggles happily at her own joke and Lauren can’t help but let out a laugh as well, no matter how lame that was. Besides, Camila got her name right on the first try, which is rare, so Lauren feels like smiling, at least a little bit.

“Yeah, no, I’m just as messy with words as you sometimes.” Lauren answers, sniffling quietly one last time.

Camila nods, still grinning. “Well, that makes three things that I know about you.”

“Three?” Lauren tilts her head in confusion.

“Your name is Lauren Jauregui, you’re messy with words sometimes and you’re an angry crier.” Camila states, listing the facts on her fingers.

Lauren furrows her brow. “How do you the last one?” Camila looks at her skeptically and it takes Lauren a moment more than she’d like to understand the expression on her face. “Oh, yeah, okay, got it. All true by the way.”

Camila nods then, her smile coming back now, even though in a much smaller form. She looks down at her hands, seemingly thinking about something, while Lauren admittedly stares at her profile.

Her mind is running, going from Keana to Camila, thinking about how thoughtful of the girl it was to want to check up on her even though they literally just met, while Keana clearly didn’t care all that much. Her tears have also stopped, which, _bless_. How awkward would it be if Lauren just kept crying in front of this stranger?

(In front of her new friend?)

“What happened?” Camila asks suddenly, drawing Lauren out of her thoughts. “I mean I got the basics, no face, no texts, no call.” She chuckles, but her eyes widen when Lauren doesn’t join her. “Not that I was like eavesdropping! Or that this is funny! God, I _suck_. I thought you could use some talking, but you probably want to talk to one of your friends.” Camila sighs and runs a hand through her face, and Lauren can’t help but giggle herself then, finding the whole thing actually pretty cute.

Camila’s eyes shoot up at the sound, a shy smile touching her lips as she looks at Lauren with uncertain brown eyes. Lauren shakes her head with a gentle smile and that seems to make Camila relax a bit.

Camila was right, Lauren was just about to call one of her friends, probably Ally, but she was also wrong, since Lauren doesn’t mind talking to her at all. Camila’s interest seems genuine after all, and it could be good for Lauren to talk someone who doesn’t know Keana, someone with a different perspective than that which she already knows. It has worked on the past, so.

(Besides, Ally would probably just call Keana something offensive without actually cursing and invite Lauren over so they could talk properly anyway.)

“I’m not mad, you just took me by surprise. Guess my reaction time isn’t as good as I thought.” Lauren chuckles and Camila follows her, relief washing over her face. “I was yelling at Keana, this… Friend of mine, I guess. I’ve been crushing on her for a while, but she just stood me up on our first date and, well, let’s just say I finally opened my eyes to how she doesn’t actually care about me.”

Camila grimaces and shakes her head. “That sucks, I’m really sorry.”

Then, the brown eyed girl reaches her hand out and places it over Lauren’s, brushing her thumb delicately over the back of it.

Lauren feels that (unfortunately) familiar pang in her chest at the reminder of how fucked up her last hour and a half have been, but decides to ignore it in favor of the tingling sensation she feels in her hand and the backflips her stomach is currently doing.

Lauren gulps and diverts her eyes from their hands to look at Camila. Their eyes meet and Camila’s brown ones stare into Lauren’s with an intensity she was sure could burn her, but she finds it strangely comforting and doesn’t even consider looking away.

(Lauren supposes that if Camila’s eyes really did burn, she would be blind by now. Then again, that intensity may just be what she has been craving.

Who knows, it may just be what she needs.)

The moment ends when Lauren smiles weakly and nods, unsure of what to do, unsure of what she would be able to do. The brown eyed girl must have taken it as Lauren being uncomfortable, since not a second later she feels the hand atop her own leaving it.

Lauren looks down at the loss of contact and frowns but when she looks up again, Camila isn’t looking at her.

(Something to be fixed.)

“Thanks, Camila.” It works, as the smaller girl lifts her head and smiles at Lauren’s gentle look. “What about you, though? You didn’t seem all that happy when I got in.”

Camila rolls her eyes then and huffs. “Just caught my girlfriend cheating on me, so yeah. Well, actually now she’s my ex but you got it.”

Lauren’s stomach twists at the word girlfriend, though she isn’t too sure as to why, but then she feels relief wash over her at the word ex and suddenly realization dawns in on her.

She had a crush on Camila? Who she just met twenty minutes ago? Well then. Okay? What about Keana? Surely feelings don’t go away that quickly...

Lauren feels her heart ache at the thought again and yep, feelings really do not go away that quickly, but she’s pretty sure she’s crushing on Camila anyway. Camila, who’s looking at her, expecting an answer.

 _Shit_. Has she taken too long to say something?

Lauren shakes her head. “I’m sorry to hear that as well. How can you be so calm though? I’d be in tears if my girlfriend cheated on me.”

If Camila notices or minds Lauren’s pause before she spoke, she doesn’t mention it. Instead, she just grimaces and shrugs weakly.

“I mean, she was a jerk to be honest.” Camila states, a little too nonchalantly for it to make sense to Lauren.

She can’t help her confused frown. “What? Why were you dating her then?”

“She wasn’t _always_ a jerk.” Camila replies in a defensive tone. “She was sweet to me when we first met and started dating, then after a while she began slowly showing some parts of her personality that I didn’t really like but I ignored it until I just realized the more time we spent together the less we worked. That was like last month and we’ve been dating for four months. This last month I honestly couldn’t have fallen more out of love with someone.” Camila chuckles. “We’ve fallen a little apart too and I was actually trying to figure out how to break up with her without being a jerk. But, well, she took care of that for me.” Camila shrugs again.

Lauren blinks and shifts on her seat, unsure of what she could say to help with the situation. It resonated a lot with her, who was going through something similar, but she doesn’t know if mentioning that will seem like she’s trying to only talk about herself.

So Lauren goes with the classic. “I’m really sorry to hear that. I’m glad you’re not too upset.”

“Thanks.” Camila smiles warmly at her. “And I mean, I’m more angry than anything. I took two buses all the way from my fucking dorm on campus to surprise her because Dinah, my best friend, had convinced me to try and fix our relationship, but look at what happened.” She huffs.

“Your dorm? Do you go to the university in town too?” Lauren asks and Camila nods, eyebrows raised. “Well no shit, I study there too. Maybe we even live in the same building and didn’t know.” Lauren grins.

Camila grins as well, her face softening in understanding. “Who knew Uber would bring us together.” Camila laughs, making Lauren giggle.

She really _is_ cute. And talk about coincidences! It was almost unbelievable, almost too good to be true…

“So, where are we going?” Camila asks all of the sudden, interrupting Lauren’s thoughts.

“Sorry?” Lauren furrows her brow in confusion, which she notices gets a little smile out of the brown eyed girl. “To campus…?”

Camila rolls her eyes with that same little smile. “No, we’re not. Not anymore.”

“Um.” Lauren shifts uncomfortably. Camila was really cool – and beautiful – but they _had_ just met. Maybe it really was too good to be true, who was to say that the girl wasn’t a murderer? She didn’t look like one, but… “I mean… No offense but it’s like almost midnight and we just met.”

“Yeah but you got stood up and I caught my girlfriend cheating so I’m guessing you don’t have much to do other than sulk on this Saturday night and neither do I. Which brings me back to… What are we doing?” Camila finishes with a glint in her eyes.

Lauren isn’t sure how she got into this situation. She surely didn’t expect anything close to it when she got a shared Uber half an hour ago. But as she stares at Camila, with that tentative smirk and those intense brown eyes, she forgets all about her worries. Or, rather, she pushes them all to the back of her mind.

(Lauren doesn’t know how it got to this, but she doesn’t exactly mind that it did.)

“Well… I’m actually pretty hungry, so we could have something to eat?” Lauren suggests hesitantly.

Camila’s eyes light up even more at her words. “Great! We could stop over here and look for somewhere to eat, then?”

Lauren looks out the window and frowns. “I have no idea where we are.”

“That’s what makes it fun.” Camila grins.

Lauren can’t help but mirror her expression and ask the Uber driver to stop wherever. Camila almost squeals in excitement then and Lauren wishes she could say her stomach _almost_ does somersaults, but that would be a lie, because it _definitely_ did.

The cold wind hits Lauren in the face when they get out of the car, but she doesn’t really mind it, always having been a fan of chilly weather. Camila, on the other hand, seems to be having a harder time accepting the temperature, wrapping her arms around herself and shivering slightly.

Even so, there’s a smile on her face when she mutters, “It’s fucking cold,” and Lauren has to bite her lip to stop herself from giggling at the girl’s adorable antics.

“You want my beanie and scarf? I’m not that cold and you didn’t really dress for the weather we’re having.” Lauren offers, chuckling at how Camila glances at Lauren’s heavy coat before turning her gaze sheepishly to her own jeans and light jacket. Camila meets her eyes then, seemingly shy for the first time since they met.

“Thank you, but, um, I couldn’t, but thank you.” The shorter girl mumbles, blushing in embarrassment. Or the cold weather. Or… Something else? Either way, Lauren is already taking off her scarf when she finishes talking.

Lauren scoffs. “Bullshit, you’re shivering. Here.” She hands her the two pieces of clothing, aware that trying to put them on Camila herself after the short time they’ve known each other could be an invasion of her space.

(Even if movies try to make it look romantic _all the time_.)

Camila’s cheeks get even redder as she puts them on and yep, she’s blushing and Lauren’s pretty sure it’s neither the cold nor any form of embarrassment whatsoever, if the smile she wears is any indication.

“Thank you.” Camila says softly.

“No problem.” Lauren replies as they begin to walk.

Lauren finds it weird how it’s silent for a minute or so, despite how talkative they had been in the car. Then it hits her that maybe it was her offer that brought out a more reserved side of the smaller girl and almost facepalms herself. For someone who was so worried about respecting physical space, she had no problem tripping over the intimacy line with that one. But then again, was she supposed to just let Camila be cold?

Lauren takes a deep breath and decides to be the one to ease things up between them again. But as she starts talking, so does Camila and before they know it, their soft laughter is echoing through the night. Not so much work in easing things up after all.

“You go first.” Camila offers, stuffing her hands in her jacket pockets as they walk.

“Okay… Do you have a habit of wandering aimlessly through unknown neighbourhoods with people you barely know?” Lauren asks playfully, getting a rich laugh in response.

“Well, when you put it like _that_ …” She chuckles again. “No _,_ but I do have a bad habit of getting into weird or slightly dangerous situations. My friend Dinah is always getting us in trouble, but Normani always saves our asses.”

“Yeah?” Lauren chuckles. “What kind of trouble?”

Camila shakes her head, blushing again. “You don’t wanna know.”

“Oh come on! I won’t judge, promise.” Lauren holds out her pinky finger in what she realizes a second later is a dumb as fuck move, but Camila bites her lip and brings her own pinky to cross with hers, so she guesses it’s okay.

“Well, once we were at the mall and it was gonna close, right? But Dinah said we should hide and break into the huge playground they put in the middle of it, which was only available for kids. I was down for it right away, but Normani took some convincing. And the playground wasn’t even locked! In the end we had to run from the security guards and out the emergency exit, but it was hella fun.” Camila laughs, smiling at the memory.

Lauren only gapes at her, unable to say anything about what she’d just heard. Then, she throws her head back in laughter, thinking back to the time her brother, who works at a mall, told her about how all everyone was talking about were some girls who had broken into the playground.

“Oh my God!” Lauren manages to get out.

“Stooop!” Camila exclaims, hiding her face in her hands. “I knew I shouldn’t have told you.”

Lauren stops in her tracks, Camila’s mumbling of her last sentence only making her laugh more. She leans forwards with her hands on her knees, trying to calm down. She’s lucky it’s midnight and the streets are practically cleared of people, or some would definitely be staring. Once she did manage to quiet down, Lauren straightens herself up and runs a hand through her hair, coming face to face with a flustered Camila.

“Don’t…” Lauren cuts herself off, out of breath. “Don’t worry. I- I already… Knew about that, actually.” She breathes deeply, finally able to talk right. “My brother works at that mall.”

Camila looks even more embarrassed at that, but she laughs anyway. “Oh, God, I don’t even wanna know what he said.”

“He found the whole thing hilarious.” Lauren chuckles. “The security team was _not_ amused, though.”

Camila laughs loudly at that, smirking once her laughter dies down. “I can imagine. I hope you don’t think I’m some kind of criminal, though.”

Lauren’s smile grows wider then and she places her hand on Camila’s shoulder. “Nah, you’re too cute to be a criminal.”

And then her heart stops, because _fuck_. She hadn’t meant for that to be more than a thought, but clearly it did. And by the way Camila’s cheeks darken once more while her eyes dart to the hand Lauren has on her shoulder, she totally thought that was flirting.

Lauren is almost about to apologize, when she sees the corner of Camila’s lips rise and the girl bites her bottom one. Lauren can’t help the way her eyes flicker down, but soon she’s looking into her eyes again.

So she decides that if Camila was cool with it, she was cool with it. Lauren wasn’t lying when she’d called her cute, after all.

“Thank you.” Camila says, staring into Lauren’s eyes.

“The truth doesn’t require thanks.” Lauren replies smoothly. Well, if she started flirting by accident, might as well make the most of it, right?

Part of her mind tells her that no, that she shouldn’t. That she’d just met the girl and that she could be very well unknowingly using her to forget about Keana. Part of her heart still aches with abandonment and unrequited feelings for her friend. The other parts of her mind and heart, surprisingly bigger than the first ones, tell her to go with it, because she was having more fun with this girl she barely knew at a random night walk than she’d had with Keana in the last month or so. Besides, up until this moment she had even forgotten about her ruined date, so that had to count for something.

(Yeah, Lauren’s totally gonna make the most of it.)

She’s drawn out of her thoughts when she hears the clicking of heels on the ground, realizing Camila was walking again. Scrambling to keep up, Lauren reaches her in time to see her grinning like a child who has just gotten candy on halloween.

They walk in comfortable silence for a minute or two, Lauren’s mind still running wild as she tries to comprehend what is happening in her heart. She doesn’t hear the first time Camila calls her name, but the second one is loud enough for her to almost jump, and she clutches her heart as Camila laughs at how startled she was.

“Scaredy cat.” Camila breathes out once she stops laughing and they begin walking once again, not even bothering to say whatever it was she was gonna say before.

“Am not!” Lauren mumbles, blushing herself this time. “Badasses can’t be scaredy cats.” She says matter-of-factly.

“Oh and you’re a badass?” Camila asks skeptically.

“Um, excuse you.” Lauren fakes being offended. “Couldn’t you tell by being in my presence for more than five minutes?”

“No, actually.” Camila replies, amused.

Lauren furrows her brow, not really offended, but somewhat upset. “Well, I am.”

“Whatever makes you sleep at night.” Camila smirks.

Lauren gasps and pushes Camila lightly, thinking that their intimacy levels have reached that point by now. Her heart leaps inside her chest when Camila just laughs and pushes her back, her smile never once wavering.

Lauren has a feeling that saying yes to Camila’s offer was her best choice in a while.

* * *

That feeling is confirmed when they find a somewhat decent looking place to eat about half an hour later. By then, Lauren already knows much more about Camila, like the fact that she has a younger sister called Sofi and that her parents don’t really approve of her sexuality.

Lauren also told Camila about her siblings as they walked, focusing on Chris, whose opinion on the playground incident the shorter girl had been eager to know.

(She was pleased to hear he’d found the entire thing hilarious and that he considered the unknown girls some kind of heroes.)

It’s almost one in the morning when they find the diner and they feel much more at ease with each other. Almost too at ease, as if they’d known each other their whole lives, and not just an hour and a half. And even so, another kind of tension has risen between the pair. One Lauren knows too well and one she isn’t quite sure what to think about.

She had flirted a little before, sure, but that had mostly been on accident. After a while, though, Lauren had begun noticing Camila flirting here and there, and she hadn’t really known how to react.

“Thank you.” Camila smiles as Lauren holds the door open to her.

“No problem.” Lauren replies easily.

The diner is mostly empty, with its red leather booths and its little benches by the bar. It’s cozy in there, more so than it seemed from the outside, and there’s even a boombox playing some song that Lauren doesn’t recognize.

“God, I love Hayley Kiyoko.” Camila exclaims, making Lauren turn to her. She guesses it’s the girl from the song.

“I don’t know her.” She comments, shrugging as they walk.

Until Camila stops her, that is. “ _What_? She’s like the queen of lesbians!”

Lauren chuckles, eyebrows raised in amusement. “I’m bisexual?”

Camila laughs as well, her own frown melting away. “Okay but look. You gotta give me your number so I can give you links to her songs.”

Lauren tries to conceal her surprise and the heat on her cheeks, but the way Camila blushes again tells her she caught on. The green eyed girl tries to shake it off, though. So Lauren could find the songs on her own, who cares? Camila wanted her number and Lauren was going to give it to her.

So she smiles and nods. “Sure, let’s just order first.”

Camila almost sighs in relief, letting out a breathy and nervous giggle. “Of course.”

And that was what Lauren had meant by another kind of tension. Even though Lauren can already tell Camila is quite good with her words – despite having said she could be messy with them in the car –, it isn’t the first time she turned into a flustered little thing while flirting. Lauren is pretty sure it’s not going to be the last.

(She’s completely certain she doesn’t want it to be the last.)

So Lauren lets Camila choose a booth in the corner of the diner, away from the only other customer, a man in his forties, and follows her there. They sit face to face, and Lauren is about to comment on how the man looked like he wanted to be dead, when a waitress who looked just as pissed as him shows up to take their orders.

“I’ll have a cheeseburger with some side fries and a soda, please.” Camila says, to which the waitress almost groans in reply. The brown eyed girl raises her eyebrows, looking slightly offended, and Lauren has to bite her bottom lip to stop herself from laughing.

She turns to the waitress, who still looks like this is the last place she wants to be. “And I’ll have a strawberry milkshake and some chicken wings.”

“We’re out of strawberry.” The waitress sighs.

“Oh, okay. What do you guys have?” Lauren asks.

“Chocolate and vanilla.”

“A vanilla milkshake, then.” Lauren replies with a smile, to which the waitress nods and hurries back to the counter.

Lauren is watching her go when Camila grabs her attention by softly tapping on the table to yet another song she doesn’t know.

“And who is this?” She asks with a smile.

Camila actually seems offended. “Troye Sivan, king of gays.”

Lauren throws her head back in laughter. “So you only listen to the LGBT monarchs then?”

“Of course.” Camila replies cheekily. “And soon you will too.”

Lauren blushes this time, but Camila does as well, and it’s confirmed for the green eyed girl that no matter how smooth Camila can be, she’s always flustered when she flirts. It’s adorable, really, and Lauren can’t help the way a grin takes over her face when she takes her phone from her purse.

“Here.” Lauren hands Camila the device. “Add your number and I’ll send you a text.”

Camila beams at that, furiously typing her information. She stops for a moment, furrows her brow and then goes back to typing something before handing the phone back to Lauren. The Latina smiles at her new contact, whose name is sided by a rose emoji.

“Cute rose.” Lauren winks, making Camila blush again.

“I was gonna put the sun emoji because it’s extra just like me, but then I thought that would be _too_ extra and I decided not to do that since it would be better that you didn’t know how extra I really am. Which obviously makes no difference with how much I’m rambling, so... I’ll stop now.” Camila almost groans, her face still a light shade of red, but Lauren can only try to stifle her laughter for so long. When she inevitably breaks out into a giggling fit, Camila _does_ groan before hiding her face in her hands.

“Don’t worry, I’m not good with lowkey people.” Lauren smiles, making Camila bite on her bottom lip. She still can’t see her eyes, but she doesn’t miss the way the smaller girl’s lips turn up on the corner.

Camila uncovers one eye by separating her fore and middle finger. “How so?”

The whole thing is just _too_ cute for Lauren to hold back a grin. “Why be superficial, y’know? About… I dunno, experiences, choices. So many people go on living their mediocre lives, not even trying to find a bigger purpose or at least their happiness… What’s the point?” Lauren finishes, only then realizing that halfway through her answer it had turned into a passionate rant.

Camila seems taken aback by it, removing her hands from her head and tilting it with a thoughtful expression. She taps against the table a few times and Lauren is afraid she has scared her away with her “fake deep stuff” as her friends call it, but then again, she doesn’t regret what she’s said.

“Well,” Camila starts, getting Lauren out of her thoughts, “not everyone has the privilege of living the big life, searching for the inner self or something like that. Some people have just about what they need to survive, stuff for which they have to work hard, and I don’t think that’s mediocre.” Lauren widens her eyes, noticing how she might have come off, but Camila doesn’t seem mad. Just not particularly excited as she was before and not really agreeing with what the green eyed girl had said, which, putting it like _that_ …

“No, no, you misunderstood me. Sorry.” Lauren let out an awkward chuckle. “I expressed myself in a bad way, maybe. I didn’t mean it in a material way. Like, by ‘mediocre lives’ I didn’t mean a kind of job or not going overseas on vacation. I meant it in an emotional level. Like, no matter if you have nothing or everything, just… Feeling, you know? Not just living in a state of content where everything is ‘whatever’ or nice and cozy, not taking chances in love, for example. Or… Liking a book but not going all the way in, not connecting with the characters and their stories, but just casually reading it. Like, why live in a emotional kiddy pool if you can dive right into a deep one or into the sea?”

Camila seems to get it after Lauren’s second speech, nodding with the most serious face the raven haired girl has seen her since they met. Camila doesn’t say anything for a while and Lauren is starting to think she might not when she stops nodding and looks her in the eye.

“Well, some people are afraid to drown.” Camila says, making Lauren stare curiously at her. Not that she didn’t get the reference to her own metaphor, but some elaboration would be nice. Camila seems to get it and continues. “I mean, some people are just afraid of that diving in. Like, they’re afraid to be hurt or to get too attached or close to be vulnerable. We’re all just constantly disappointing each other, after all.”

Lauren frowns. “We’re not.”

Camila shrugs. “Maybe not by your best friends, but someone is always gonna hurt us, whether they mean to or not. Some people just can’t take the risk.”

“But that’s no way of living.” Lauren argues, pleasantly surprised by how serious Camila is about this debate. “You’ll never let yourself feel that way.”

“Some people prefer preventing some feelings to risking the possibility of others. Your friend, for example, she stood you up and it hurt you. You wouldn’t have gone through it if you hadn’t allowed yourself to feel.” Camila finishes in a soft tone.

The smaller Latina looks alarmed when Lauren suddenly tenses and frowns. The green eyed girl is kind of frozen by Camila’s last sentence, not sure if she’s upset at her for bringing it up, at herself for feeling that way or at Keana as she remembers her actions. Either way, she sulks back into her seat, not knowing how to reply.

Fortunately, she doesn’t have to. “God, Lauren, I’m so sorry. That was really dumb and rude of me, I’m really sorry.” Camila practically whines, and Lauren feels her heart melt a little bit when the girl pouts. “I didn’t mean to upset you, I’m just blunt sometimes and well, I was trying to show you my point but that was out of line, would you forgive me? I would totally understand if you-”

“Slow down, Camz, it’s okay.” Lauren chuckles weakly, unable to stay mad when the other girl was so adorably rambling out an apology. Camila raises her eyebrows and tries to stifle a smile, but Lauren isn’t sure why. Then she realizes she literally gave the girl a nickname out of nowhere and _kind of_ freaks out on the inside, because _why_ , Lauren? Then again, Camila didn’t seem to dislike it, so she calms herself and shrugs mentally before continuing, in what she hopes is a neutral voice. “That’s exactly what I meant, though. I know I was hurt, but I gave myself a shot at happiness. And you, getting all worked up over this discussion, that’s certainly not a lowkey move. You put your heart and your soul in it, even it was just a debate about feelings. Maybe it’s extra but if so, I like extra.”

Camila doesn’t try to hide her shy grin this time, a blush creeping up her cheeks. “Thank you, I guess. I do know what you mean and I agree, like, I can’t _not_ care, you know? I just think it’s understandable that some people can.” She makes a pause and Lauren nods, smiling softly. Then Camila laughs and Lauren’s stomach does backflips. “I was a diehard fangirl when I was younger, by the way, and I guess you can relate if your little book comment was any indication.”

Lauren smiles, happy and relieved that they managed to break the awkward moment and fall back into pleasant conversation so easily.

“Yeah, I love books. I read all sorts of young adult novels in high school.” Lauren replies.

“So, what Hogwarts house are you in?” Camila asks excitedly.

“Hufflepuff.” Lauren replies proudly and Camila breaks into an even larger grin. “Pottermore and all.”

“Me too!” She exclaims, just as the waitress arrives with their food and raised eyebrows.

Lauren has to stifle the laugh that’s dying to come out of her at the look of sheer embarrassment on Camila’s face, but she controls herself and jumps in to help her new friend.

“Thank you.”

(Ah, a _true_ Hufflepuff.)

The waitress turns to her then, actually giving her something that resembles a smile before nodding and walking away.

“She hates me.” Camila exhales, grabbing Lauren’s attention again and definitely making her laugh with her rejected expression as she chews on a fry.

“She doesn’t _know_ you.” Lauren replies, starting to eat her food as well.

“She may know me…” Camila swallows and bites on her bottom lip in a thoughtful expression, causing Lauren to lean forward in anticipation.

“What do you mean?”

Camila looks up and curious green eyes meet guilty brown ones. “The mall incident wasn’t the only one I’ve been in.”

Lauren’s rich laughter fills the diner, but she doesn’t mind how loud she is. “You’re one hell of a naughty Hufflepuff, huh?”

Camila smirks then, winking at Lauren as she throws another fry in her mouth. “You have no idea.”

Lauren is pretty sure her face is as red as a tomato from how hot it is, but the sound of Camila’s endearing giggling is more than enough to make it alright.

They keep talking while they eat, learning more facts about each other’s lives, and the conversation falls on the topic of their friends. Camila tells Lauren more about Dinah and Normani, her best friends since middle school, and about how she’s sure they have feelings for each other but don’t act on it out of fear, even though Camila has played the double agent and confirmed it for them a few times now. Camila doesn’t elaborate and Lauren doesn’t ask her to, knowing the subject might be a personal one for her friends.

Lauren ends the brief awkward silence they have then by telling Camila about how she grew up with Alexa and Lucy and how they befriended Ally in their first year of high school. Lauren gets a little sad as she recalls how Lucy distanced herself from the group of friends when she started dating Vero and zones out a little, only coming back to the present when she feels Camila’s hand on her own.

She’s silent and her eyes are soft, and Lauren gets butterflies in her stomach by looking at her. Lauren knows that she doesn’t need to tell her anything, that Camila wouldn’t push, but the comfort brought by the small gesture and the warmness in her gaze makes the raven haired girl want to open up to someone about this for the first time in what feels like forever.

So Lauren follows her instincts and tells Camila everything. She only hopes she doesn’t regret it in the future.

(The mere thought of a future of any kind with Camila makes Lauren feel a little better already, and maybe that’s all the reassurance she needs.)

“I used to have a crush on Lucy, y’know. When we were like, fourteen. Just when we met Ally. But we also met this girl, Veronica, and she and Luce started dating a little bit after. I’d never said anything to Lucy or Alexa about my crush, but I kept getting frustrated and jealous and having petty little arguments because I was feeling rejected even though Lucy never knew…” Lauren scoffs at herself, slowly shaking her head, but Camila seems sympathetic, so she keeps going. “The three of us had always been really close so Alexa didn’t think it had anything to do with, like, romantic feelings, y’know? She assumed I was jealous but as a friend. But Ally was new to our group and she caught on pretty quickly.” Lauren lets out a chuckle at the memory. “Ally is great, she’s completely in tune with everyone’s feelings so she’s always there for you.” Camila smiles softly and Lauren mirrors her expression. “So I told her everything and we ended up growing closer at the same time as Lucy became kinda distant from me because of all of that mess. And Alexa kinda stuck by her side, because even though she won’t admit it to this day, I know she used to get mad at me for making unnecessary drama. But anyway, eventually I got my shit together and apologized, we all talked it out and the inseparable trio became a quartet.”

Camila lets out a short whistle as she squeezes Lauren’s hand. “That’s quite a story.”

“Yeah.” Lauren breathes out, leaning back on her seat.

Camila’s smile falters then and she retracts her hand, confusing Lauren. Had she thought that because Lauren leaned back, she didn’t want to hold her hand? _Ugh_. Lauren is about as lost as white male TV writers when Camila breaks the five seconds long silence.

(And their tension, _that_ tension, which was building yet again.)

“What about your feelings for Lucy?” The brown eyed girl asks, a little more than curiosity twinkling in her eyes.

Lauren is still somewhat lost by the time Camila speaks, but after a moment or two, she wraps her mind around her question and almost smirks. She doesn’t, though, trying to keep a casual face to see Camila’s reaction.

“They’ve been gone for a long time. I had to let them go, especially since Lucy and Vero never broke up. I’m pretty sure they’ll get married in a couple of years.” Lauren finally allows her façade to break as Camila bites down on her bottom lip with a smile trying to come out. The green eyed can’t stop a grin of her own from taking over her face but it falters once her mind unfortunately goes back to the one who she’d come to crush on later – Keana.

Lauren doesn’t realize she’s been staring at her empty milkshake cup until Camila brings her back to the present with a worried, “What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing, sorry.” Lauren starts, coughing once. “I was just thinking about Keana for a moment there.”

Lauren watches as Camila’s face falls a little more and mentally facepalms herself. Great, _incredible_! Awesome move, Lauren! Here’s a beautiful girl who seems to give a shit and… Has just broken up with her girlfriend, while you’re still upset about Keana. Maybe they _are_ moving a bit too fast… Maybe Camila isn’t even interested and Lauren is reading way too much into facial expressions and such, something that she shouldn’t even be doing, considering she was just almost crying a couple of hours ago about being stood up.

But then again, Lauren doesn’t owe Keana anything. Maybe she’s just thinking about this now that her mind is off the girl, now that she’s in the company of someone who’s making her laugh and smile without any kind of guilt or sadness afterward, but Lauren is starting to wonder if her feelings for Keana haven’t been diminishing over time and if she’s been holding on to hope or to an ideal – that if she keeps trying, Keana will reciprocate her feelings _and_ stop being a jerk. It’s not a wild thought, but the realization makes Lauren completely zone out again, thinking back to her disappointment and wondering if that, too, was not a product of her feelings, but of that ideal.

“I’m sorry, do you want me to go?”

Lauren whips her head to look at Camila the moment she hears the words, cursing herself inside her mind for having gotten lost in her thoughts yet again. The brown eyed girl looks worried and a little less bright than she’s been for the past hour, a small frown adorning her features.

“No!” Lauren exclaims, perhaps a little too loudly if the way Camila’s eyebrows shoot up is any indication. Feeling her face heat up, Lauren clears her throat and averts Camila’s gaze for a moment. “Hm, I mean, please don’t go. I’m sorry for zoning out, I just had this epiphany, I guess.” Lauren chuckles and brings her eyes back to Camila’s, trying to show honesty. “I wasn’t ignoring you on purpose, sorry if you said anything and I didn’t catch it.”

Camila seems satisfied, but still a little worried as she nods. “No biggie. And what was this epiphany of yours?” She smiles, probably trying to ease the awkwardness that had arisen between them, and Lauren almost audibly groans, pissed at herself for making things weird in the first place.

She just smiles as honestly as she can instead. “I realized that maybe my feelings for Keana haven’t been real for a while now, and that I was just holding on to hope, or the idea of reciprocated feelings.”

Lauren watches closely as Camila’s mouth forms a small and adorable ‘o’ for a moment before she gets a hold of her facial expressions and hides her surprise. It’s not long before she’s grinning and yeah, Lauren doesn’t think she’s reading too much into facial expressions anymore.

It’s not like Lauren is one of those fuckboys who think that only because a girl is being nice, it means they want to fuck them, but Camila isn’t being simply nice. She’s being flirty and touchy and she’s not really good at covering up what she’s feeling. At least Lauren thinks so, from the small amount of time they’d known each other. Still, Lauren can’t be the only one picking up on the sexual tension, right? She’s had lots of friends who she was attracted to that didn’t want her like that. She’s met lots of people who were incredibly nice with her weren’t interested. Camila, though… No, Lauren couldn’t be the only one crushing on the stranger they’d met on Uber two hours ago.

“Well that’s nice…” Camila finally says, her eyes widening and her face becoming bright red as she realizes how that must have sounded. Lauren is smiling widely now, trying not to giggle at the girl in front of her, but before she can say anything else, Camila continues, unsurprisingly managing to not stumble over her words too much, the blushing smooth talker she was. “I mean, like, because that way you’ll be able to move on and stop getting down because of her.”

Lauren nods, but decides to take a leap of faith and, well, fuck it. “Funny thing, I haven’t really felt down since I met you.”

Camila blushes, hard this time, and licks her lips before biting down on her bottom one _again_ , something that’s been driving Lauren _insane_. Neither of them looks away, and the smirk Lauren is wearing is having just the desired effect, if the way Camila breaks eye contact only to glance at her lips before moving them up again is any indication.

Camila still hasn’t said anything by the time their waitress comes back, startling both of them by collecting their dishes. Lauren isn’t sure how long they would have kept their staring match, but she doesn’t really mind not finding out, if only she gets to continue whatever could have happened _after_ it. Lauren’s mind starts wandering then and she really shouldn’t be thinking about how she’d rather be the one sinking her teeth on Camila’s lip. Maybe she hasn’t felt down since meeting the girl, _but_ she really wouldn’t mind going down in other ways…

Lauren feels a shiver run down her spine and stop in a slight ache between her legs, which means she should absolutely stop her train of thinking. Then again, Camila looks flustered herself as she looks at Lauren after the waitress has gone away.

“We should, uh, go. Probably. It’s like, two in the morning.” Camila finally speaks, even though she hasn’t touched her phone since they got there.

Lauren nods, however, and checks her own phone only to see she has seven missed calls and twenty seven unread texts from three different conversations. Yikes.

Other than that, though, it really is almost two AM, and they really should go.

Lauren is quick to get her wallet and she’s just opening her mouth to offer to pay when Camila beats her to it. “Nuh, uh, let me. I’m the reason you ever got off the Uber anyway.”

“But-”

“No buts, I insist.” Camila says, sending Lauren that amazing smile of hers, and the green eyed girl can only blink and sigh, accepting defeat.

“I’m paying for the Uber to campus then.” Lauren blurts out, opening her app as soon as possible so that Camila doesn’t have a chance to argue.

Camila chuckles. “Okay, deal. I can live with that. Good thing we live in the same dorm, right?”

Camila sends her a look then, _the_ look, and Lauren realizes she’s never wished for an Uber to arrive quicker in her life.

* * *

The ride to their dorm starts mostly silent, not because Lauren didn’t want to talk to Camila, but because every time they did start talking, one of them would get lost staring at the other and the sexual tension would only rise. They have been sitting with inches between them for fifteen minutes now and not because there wasn’t more space in the car. No, Lauren had gotten in and Camila slid in after her until they were almost touching. Then she returned Lauren’s beanie and scarf, which were put in the girl’s bag immediately.

(It had suddenly gotten so hot in there that Lauren almost asked the driver if the air conditioner was on, which _obviously_ was.)

“Do you have any plans after we get to the dorm?” Lauren regrets her words the moment they leave her mouth, since she doesn’t think she’s ever said anything that dumb.

Camila only smiles – seductively? – and shakes her head. Lauren gulps and nods, hoping the girl lets go of it or that the ground opens up and eats her. Or, well, that Camila does, but- No. Lauren can’t let her mind go there if she hopes to survive this ride home. She feels the fucking throbbing again and fidgets in her spot for a moment, risking a glance Camila’s way only to feel their thighs start touching.

“Do _you_ have any plans?” Camila asks in a low yet sensually innocent voice. Lauren didn’t even know that was a thing, but oh boy, was it doing things to her.

Lauren keeps her cool, though, or at least she tries to, licking her lips – just like Camila had done in the diner – before smirking. Brown eyes glance at her mouth and Lauren is just glad that she’s still got _some_ control of the situation, really.

“Well, I didn’t until now.” Lauren replies, her voice husky as her eyes lock with Camila’s.

“Really? You mind sharing them?” Camila’s voice is as smooth as the tips of her fingers as she twirls strands of Lauren’s hair in them, letting them run across her neck briefly in the process.

And just like that, a shiver runs down Lauren’s spine just as her center throbs harder and her mind goes completely blank.

“You... You tell me.” Lauren is surprised at herself when what she says isn’t completely dumb, but the smirk she’s been wearing is gone and she can no longer hide the desire all over her features, her eyes locked on Camila’s lips.

Camila twirls her hair a little bit more before she closes her fist on it without force, just tight enough for Lauren to gasp in surprise. She doesn’t have time to say anything before Camila, as flustered as she’d been while flirting at the diner, leans in toward her, their faces inches apart.

“My roommate isn’t home, y’know? Your plans could maybe include us going there…” Camila husks, her body leaning toward Lauren even more, making the girl fidget again. And while Lauren didn’t expect this side of Camila when they met, she certainly can’t say that she doesn’t like it.

Lauren realizes she actually can’t say anything at all, but she can’t have Camila thinking she isn’t up to it, so she does the next best thing. She leans forward and kisses her.

(Did she say next best thing? She meant the absolute best thing.)

Camila’s lips are soft and skilled, moving along Lauren’s in a way that she could only describe as blissful. But gentleness is slowly put aside as the tension gets higher and Lauren feels like she needs more, snaking an arm around Camila’s back and under her coat and shirt. Camila gasps softly and it gives them time to pull back and breathe for a moment, but Lauren doesn’t even open her eyes before pulling the girl into her again, sinking her teeth on the girl’s lip like she’s been wanting to do for what seemed like forever now. The hand Camila has in her hair pulls on it harder, making Lauren groan into her, and Camila takes the opportunity to slide her tongue inside Lauren’s mouth.

Their tongues meet in what was turning into a desperate kiss, Camila sucking on Lauren’s as she grabs the smaller girl’s right thigh and basically pulls her into her lap. Camila wastes no time in straddling her and Lauren should really be thinking about the poor Uber driver right now, but honestly she doesn’t give a shit. Not when one of Camila’s hands is tangled in her hair and the other is running down the front of her body and her lips are leaving hers only to find her neck a moment later.

Lauren runs her hands up and down Camila’s thighs as the girl leaves open mouthed kisses down her neck, biting down her bottom lip hard so as to not moan loudly when she starts sucking on her pulse point. One of her hands squeezes Camila’s ass at that point, the other one sinking her short nails down her thigh. Camila bites down on her shoulder then and Lauren can’t help but growl lowly, getting increasingly frustrated by the excess of clothing they had on.

Lauren moves Camila’s chin so that they start kissing again, bringing her as close as possible with the hand that was on her ass and tangling the other on the girl’s silky hair. Camila sucks on her bottom lip at the same time as she pulls her head by a fistful of Lauren’s dark locks and squeezes her hip under her shirt, making Lauren almost lose it.

And that’s when a throat being cleared and a loud cough brings them back to reality. The car isn’t moving anymore and a very uneasy driver is staring straight ahead, looking unsure of what else to do. Lauren feels her face burn up and she sees the driver end the ride before she looks up and finds a flustered yet amused Camila biting her swollen lip, probably to keep herself from laughing.

Lauren, on the other hand, is kind of mortified, so she only mumbles a, “Sorry, thanks,” and gets out of the car as fast as she can after Camila slides off her lap.

Camila is right by her side in no time, giggling wildly as the car takes off. Lauren is about to ask her how she wasn’t embarrassed as well, but when her eyes meet the girl’s gleeful expression, she can’t help but start laughing herself.

(Lauren wonders if this is another example of what Camila meant when she said she always got herself in weird situations. She can’t help but hope that it is.)

But when Camila leans into her and rests her head on Lauren’s shoulder, the girl quickly feels that spark, that tension building again. Their laughter slowly dies down and a grinning Camila looks up at Lauren, making the girl wonder how could someone look so smug and sweet at the same time.

“That was great.” She says in a low voice.

Lauren doesn’t miss the chance that their closeness provides her with and holds Camila by the hips, while the girl takes the opportunity to snake an arm around her neck.

“It really was.” Lauren husks, her eyes dropping to Camila’s lips once again.

“We should do it again.” Camila barely has time to finish her sentence before Lauren is taking her bottom lip between her own. They start kissing again and Lauren’s mind is blank of all thoughts, but Camila smiles into the kiss and pulls away, almost making Lauren pout. “Just probably not in the middle of the street.”

Lauren lets out a breathy chuckle then, because Camila is totally right. So she lets the girl take her hand and lead her through the buildings of their dorm complex until she finds her own. They wait for the elevator for what feels like an eternity to Lauren, but before she knows it they’re going up and almost running through a corridor until Camila fishes for her keys and opens her door.

It’s messy and probably not pretty, but both girls practically drop their purses and coats to the ground before Camila steps out of her heels, pushes Lauren up against the closed door and attacks her with her mouth. There’s a lot of biting involved and Lauren is sure that her lips are going to be red and swollen, but she loves it, so she couldn’t care less. What she does care about, though? The alarmingly increasing throbbing between her legs and her probably already ruined underwear. She knows they’ve done almost nothing so far and she should be embarrassed about being this turned on with almost no touching, but honestly, who cares? If she was feeling like this at this point, she would lose her mind when they got to go further.

Which needed to happen. _Now_. So Lauren pushes herself off the door and blindly drives a surprised Camila to one of the beds, pushing her down on it as she takes off her shirt and throws it somewhere on the ground. Lauren then climbs on top of Camila and kisses her a little bit softer, but she’s there for a total of five seconds before the smaller girl flips them around and sits on Lauren’s lap with one hand on her shoulder to keep her down.

“Don’t get up.” Camila almost growls, making Lauren bite her bottom lip.

As if the display of dominance wasn’t enough to turn Lauren on impossibly more, Camila slowly raises her hand from Lauren’s shoulder, as if to make sure that she wouldn't disobey, before she takes off her shirt and bra and tosses her hair all to one side. Lauren stares hungrily, paralyzed with her hands on Camila’s thighs, but when the girl starts lowering herself again, she does so painfully slowly, and the green eyed girl can’t help but rest her weight on one elbow so that she can pull Camila into her with the other arm.

Camila doesn’t give in; much on the contrary, she makes Lauren lose her balance and holds her down again as she positions herself so as to keep one leg between Lauren’s. The friction is enough to make Lauren moan loudly, but Camila doesn’t stop there. She finally lowers herself completely, her breasts touching Lauren’s skin, but instead of finding her mouth, Camila’s lips travel to her ear.

“I told you not to get up, but it’s okay.” She sucks on the spot behind Lauren’s earlobe and the girl feels her eyes roll to the back of her head. “Let’s just get you out of these.” She husks before pulling away.

“Camz.” Lauren whines, but she’s already gone.

When she opens her eyes, the girl is undoing the buttons of her jeans and Lauren takes the opportunity to unclasp her bra and throw it to the side. Camila stops what she’s doing and for a moment she just stares as hungrily as Lauren had. Then, she quickly pushes Lauren’s jeans off and the green eyed girl helps her by kicking them off alongside her boots.

Camila hastily unbuttons her own jeans then, kicking them off with her underwear before finally leaning down, the weight she’s putting on the leg between Lauren’s making the girl moan again. Camila muffles the sound with her lips, pulling Lauren’s bottom one for a moment before deepening the kiss. Camila’s tongue is dancing alongside Lauren’s and the girl is starting to grind, so Lauren raises her own thigh as her roaming hands squeeze her ass and Camila groans into Lauren’s mouth.

Lauren smiles at the sound, but soon groans as well, because Camila’s hand is massaging her breast while her mouth is now attached to her neck and she’s doing all sorts of things to Lauren. Camila sucks at Lauren’s sweet spot just as she starts rolling her nipple on her fingers, and Lauren moans the loudest yet, but when the girl grinds down hard, she's sure she is about to lose it.

“P- please, Camila.” Lauren whines, only getting a soft bite in reply.

Even though Lauren has no idea what to expect, she can’t say she’s not surprised when Camila starts leaving feather light kisses up her neck and slowing down her rhythm. Lauren is _not_ amused at the teasing; her center is throbbing desperately and she needs to be touched. Her groan of frustration turns into one of pleasure when Camila sucks at the spot behind her ear again though, and her mind is completely cleared of thoughts when Camila’s breath hits her ear.

“Please what, Lauren?” Camila basically purrs before lowering herself on Lauren’s body.

Lauren is already incredibly wet, but hearing Camila talk like that…

“Please…” Lauren cuts herself off with a gasp when Camila takes her nipple in her mouth, sucking on it softly. “Ca- Camila, I need you.”

“Mhmm,” is all the reply she gets, the vibrations from the humming making Lauren moan.

One of Lauren’s hands tangles in Camila’s hair, grabbing onto it tightly. Her other takes Camila’s own hand and leads it to where she needs it.

“Tell me, Lauren.” Camila demands, stopping her hand just above Lauren’s center, and the girl growls in response.

“I need you to fuck me.” Lauren’s tone is harsher than before, more a demand than a whine, and she can feel Camila smirking against the skin of her breast, where she sucks and bites once before leaning back to remove Lauren’s underwear.

Once it’s thrown across the room, Camila finally touches Lauren, running her fingers through her folds a few times, and the girl is cursing and moaning Camila’s name in no time. Lauren feels like she’s in between heaven and hell, because Camila is still teasing her and not going where she needs her, but on the other hand, she’s making her go insane by doing just that.

“You’re so wet, Laur.” Camila chuckles against her skin, continuing her trail of wet kisses and bites down Lauren’s body.

Lauren’s about to beg her to fuck her again, when Camila’s fingers find her clit and rub against it, so the only thing that comes out of her is a breathy, “Fuck, Camz.”

Lauren doesn’t have the time to say anything else before Camila’s mouth replaces her fingers, sucking on the bundle of nerves and making Lauren’s mind go completely blank. The girl curses loudly, but her breath catches in her throat when Camila enters her with two fingers, hard and sudden and blissful.

“Oh, God.” She moans, as the brunette continues to suck on her clit while her fingers thrust in an increasingly fast pace. Lauren’s hands push Camila’s head closer to her and her hips rise along her pace, wanting more, _needing_ more. “Harder, Camz, please.”

Despite all the previous teasing, their eyes meet for a moment and Camila is quick to comply, humming before biting on her clit and curling her fingers inside Lauren, who lets out a stream of profanities. Lauren can feel her orgasm building and she knows she won’t last too long, so she tells Camila that and not a second later the girl has a third finger inside of her. She moves them deeper and harder and faster and Lauren is not sure if she’s actually in heaven when she comes, moaning Camila’s name without a single care about how loud she’s being, but her legs are shaking and Camila’s kissing her way up her body while she helps her ride out her orgasm and she hasn’t felt this blissfully well in what feels like forever, so she guesses she may as well be.

Camila’s lips find Lauren’s as her legs and breathing start calming down, but they still kiss softly for a while, one of Lauren’s hands caressing Camila’s cheek, the other running up and down her spine. Camila leans back for air and Lauren opens her eyes, locking them with warm brown ones.

“That was… I don’t even have words.” She says in a low voice, tucking a strand of Camila’s hair behind her ear.

The girl smiles. “Amazing? Incredible? Mind blowing?”

Lauren giggles, throwing an arm above her face to _maybe_ hide her blush, but she doesn’t cover her grin. “All of the above?” She says, uncovering her face to find a flustered Camila grinning happily.

“I can work with that.” She husks, leaning down to kiss Lauren again.

It starts off gentle, but Lauren makes sure to turn them around just as it begins to get more heated. Camila seems surprised, but not unpleased, and when she pulls Lauren back down for their kiss, the green eyes girl is quick to comply. Lauren’s hand covers Camila’s breast and starts massaging it, making the girl moan into Lauren’s mouth. But it’s when Lauren moves her lips to work on Camila’s other breast and her fingers start circling her clit that the girl holds on to Lauren’s hair as if her life depended on it and her dominant side comes back into play.

“F- fuck, Laur... Fuck me.” Camila half moans, half demands, making Lauren feel yet another wave of arousal. “I need you fucking inside me, n- now.”

Lauren debates teasing Camila like she’d done, but her doubts last a total of two seconds as Camila tugs on her hair and moans her name. Leaving open mouthed kisses down the smaller girl’s body, Lauren sucks on the inside of Camila’s thigh once and smirks at the way her name lustfully rolls off the brunette’s tongue before raising said thigh, positioning it over her shoulder. It was time to give back.

* * *

When Lauren wakes up the next day, she doesn’t know if it’s because of the sun in her eyes or her incredibly full bladder. She doesn’t really dwell on it, though, because, well, she really needs to pee. But for that she needs to get up, and when she opens her eyes, they burn as if she were seeing the divine, a Greek god or something.

(Then again, when Lauren turns on the bed, groaning weakly, and comes to face a sleeping Camila, she smirks lazily, because not only did she see a Greek goddess the previous night, but she slept with her as well.)

Lauren’s smile turns soft as she stares at the peaceful figure lying on her stomach with a blanket covering half her body and her lips slightly parted. Camila has an arm stretched out over Lauren, and the green eyed girl guesses it had been holding her by the waist when she was lying on her back.

Lauren would spend more time staring at Camila, but her bladder really feels like it’s about to explode, so the girl hesitantly moves the brown eyed girl’s arm off her and gets up. Lauren yawns and stretches once she’s standing, but as she looks around the bedroom, seeing all of their clothes haphazardly thrown around the floor, she frowns, because she’s usually a tidy person. But then she smiles again, because usually doesn’t mean always, and Lauren was pretty happy to make an exception the previous night.

And even if Lauren feels some nerves bubbling in her stomach as she thinks of what she did, as she thinks of what will happen when Camila wakes up, she doesn’t regret it one bit.

Still smiling lazily, Lauren tiptoes her way to the bathroom, yawning once again and feeling her eyelids getting heavy after the initial rush waking up suddenly had given her. Once she washes her hands and gets out of the bathroom, her mind is wandering and her eyes are burning again, this time from the lack of sleep. What time even was it anyway?

Lauren looks at her purse, discarded by the door, and almost walks to it before she remembers her phone was in her jeans, which she so carelessly kicked off herself. Chuckling and shaking her head at the memory, Lauren kneels beside it, takes her phone and walks to the window, closing the curtains that had hurt her eyes before going back to the bed, careful not to make any noise.

She sits on the tip of the mattress and unblocks her phone, grimacing when she notices it’s almost out of battery. Lauren’s grimace turns into a frown and she groans again when she sees it’s just past six in the morning, which means she got a little less than two hours of sleep. Lauren sighs and runs a hand through her hair; at least that explains her exhaustion.

(It doesn’t mean she’s any happier about the time, though.)

Lauren also notices that she has a shit-ton of notifications, most of them texts and missed calls. She can only imagine how much her friends must hate her right now for not replying, but honestly? Lauren doesn’t really regret it. She’s a big girl, it’s not like she needed to report back or anything, and unless Keana has talked to them, they didn’t really have a reason to worry. Still, she decides to take a quick look at her group chat with her friends, only to see all of them freaking out about her whereabouts. So Lauren sends them a quick text saying that she’s fine and closes the texting app, not even bothering with her chat with Keana or anyone else for that matter.

Lauren lies back down, ready to block her phone and go back to sleep, when one notification catches her eye. Uber is asking her to rate her driver and she gives the poor guy five stars, gnawing on her lip in guilt, even though she can’t say she doesn’t find the situation more amusing now. Then, curiosity takes over her and she opens the app, looking for her own rating.

Lauren has to bite the inside of her cheeks and put a hand over her mouth when she sees that her once impeccable rating has fallen to a total of three stars, and one side of her can’t help but feel more of that guilt in the pit of her stomach. The other side is still amused – and somewhat offended, to be honest – but she lets it go as she blocks her phone and leaves it on the bedside table.

She turns back to lie on her side and is pleasantly surprised when Camila snuggles up to her, nuzzling her face in the crook of Lauren’s neck and holding her by the waist again. Lauren smiles softly at the girl, her mind foggy and her eyes heavy with sleep, and as she closes them, all thoughts of Uber and her friends vanish, replaced by this peaceful ease that has taken over her since the unexpected turn of events of that crazy Saturday night.

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to the longest chapter/one shot i've ever written! lmaooo i hope you like this fluffy and smutty one shot inspired by the day i got stuck in a diner at midnight lajsfhkjs
> 
> fun fact! i started this 3 months ago but only finished it now because i only wrote bits of it in between the chapters of my long fic, thin walls (are calling me home) ajfkssajlk btw, next chapter might take a while bc of life stuff, so yeah.
> 
> i hope this was good and that the smut isn't too horrible lol. tell me what you think! take care, darlings! <3
> 
> \- Camila (hedasambassador on tumblr)


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